More Showers!

I love the Christmas season. Everyone seems happier, I have a real excuse to shop and we have a good reason to party!!!

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Last Friday (10 December), my friends and I had a little party at Carol's house. We had a potluck so we had lots of food. We had:

1. really yummy fried chicken (the skin was crispy, the flesh was tender and had a delicately sour taste),
2. tasty pancit (the nodoles alone tasted good, but eating it with the veggie and seafood toppings made it even better),
3. equally delicious lumpiang shanghai which was perfect with the sweet and sour sauce,
4. polly's perfect chocolate cake (sinfully creamy),
5. rosa's fruit salad which tasted like ice cream (i loved how the cream melted in the mouth as soon as I took a bite),
6. chocolate sans rival, and
7. charlie's pritson (it was perfect with garlic butter and filipino chili sauce!!!)

Laxmi gave me a delightful box of goodies from Lush as she thought that it was my bridal shower (it was originally planned as my shower but for several reasons, they had to postpone it.) Inside the box were:

1. You'll Snap the Whip Body Butters (soft butters mixed with ground pumice and charcoal) which is sure to make my skin soft,
2. Sex Bomb Ballistics (a pink jasmine-scented bath ball which promises the "sexiest bath (i've) ever had), and
3. my favorite, Shimmy shimmy, a vanilla-scented massage oil bar which gives the skin a perfect sparkle!

We also watched my latest favorite Pinoy movie, Feng Shui. We had so much fun! We were laughing so hard as we made a good ad for the Stop Piracy Movement. The DVD we were using was pirated copy and it stopped on the scariest parts, garbled at least 5 minutes worth of dialogues, skipped a couple of chapters and totally refused to run 5 minutes before the ending! It ended with me telling them the ending of the movie Lola-Basyang style (I was seated in front of the TV with everyone around me.)

It was a perfect party!

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Yesterday (11 December 2004), a few w@wies (Dio, Dowa and Kitte) and I had a little party at Clarice's house. I thought that it was going to be a surprise shower for Clarice (we originally scheduled it last Tuesday but I was informed that a lot of them couldn't make it) so I went there early, brought a gift for Clarice and brought lots of food (Holiday and Chicken Relleno Pizza with sour cream-filled edges, Spaghetti and Pepsi from Pizza Hut.) I was first to arrive.

Since we planned to camouflage the shower by saying that I needed help with our CD sleeves (see story below) I brought the raw materials for our CD sleeves. Clarice also mentioned that she needed help tying the ribbons on their souvenirs so as soon as I got to their house, I asked her where their souvenirs were.

While waiting for the others to arrive, Clarice and I started working on our souvenirs. As soon as we started, we realized that I was better at making ribbons than Clarice while she folded better than I. Naturally, we switched tasks. I tied the rafia ribbons on her souvenirs while she folded and taped our CD sleeves. In a few minutes, Dowa and Kitte arrived. Dowa's DIY wedding-stuff trained her in tying ribbons so she started to help me. Kitte claims that she didn't have the talent in tying little ribbons so she helped fold and tape the CD sleeves.

An hour later, we decided to eat. Dio and Marvin arrived at that time with 2 boxes of my favorite Becky's Kitchen brownies!!! It was then that they announced the surprise - the shower was not for Clarice, it was for me! It turns out that the shower for Clarice pushed through last Tuesday (I couldn't attend as I was having dinner with Rey's family.) We were laughing so hard (and the men were busy taking our pictures) when we opened my gifts:

1. cream bath which smelled wonderful,
2. foot spa set which is perfect for a pedicure-addict like me (Rey adores my feet so I have to take care of them!),
3. lovely lavender foam bath set (I love bubble baths!)
4. white barely there nightwear (which was so transparent that it looked like a veil!) with matching thongs,
5. and the surprise of the day, black barely there thongs for Rey!

After dinner, Clarice had to leave (her maid of honor picked her up for her surprise bridal shower) but the rest of us stayed in her house (sobrang feel-at-home!) I finished tying ribbons on her souvenirs, Kitte, Dowa and Dio worked on our CD sleeves, Kitte's hubby, Joseph entertained us by singing a few songs (he was pretty good!), and Marvin continued to take pictures. When I was done tying the ribbons, we decided to pack up. To my surprise, Kitte, Dowa and Dio offered to take home our raw materials so they can continue working on our CD sleeves. I was so touched!

When I got home, I still couldn't believe that I attended 2 perfect parties in 2 consecutive days!

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While Clarice and I were working on our souvenirs, I mentioned to her that I can relate when she said in her e-mail that she is not stressed about the wedding as she has "let go" of all the details a week ago. I mentioned that I've also "let go" on the day our wedding announcement came out. The funny thing was that we "let go" too early as we still had DIY stuff to do! She still had to complete her place cards and her souvenirs while I still had to make the invites for Rey's siblings. I also needed to work on our souvenirs. But as we worked on our souvenirs, we continued laughing at ourselves and decided that there's still plenty of time before our weddings (she has 6 days, I have 15) for all the stuff we need to do.

When Kitte, Dowa and Dio arrived to help us with our souvenirs, I realized that I really can let go and that I really do not need to be stressed. First, they really gave us a lot of free time by making our CD sleeves. Second, having them around reminded me that if I need any help, I can always rely on my friends to be there for me. Third and more importantly, when I was telling them about my dinner with Rey's family, I realized that the most important thing about our wedding is that we will be with our family and friends. Since our family and friends are as excited about the wedding as Rey and I, I know that there's really nothing to worry about.

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On a lighter note, I brought Porkchop to Rey's house for the first time yesterday. I was so nervous about it as Rey's house is 30 minutes away from ours and Porkchop has a bad case of motion sickness! On her last car trip, she barfed and peed all over the car.

I called up the vet and asked her if I can give Porkchop any medicine to help her with her motion sickness. She told me that I can have Porkchop drink Bonamine 30 minutes before the ride. I sent a text message to my friends and asked them to pray that the Bonamine would work! Heehee. A lot of them found the request hilarious but prayed for Porkchop anyway.

I immediately made Porkchop drink a tablet. 30 minutes later, we were on our way to Rey's house. Porkchop tried to deal with her motion sickness by sticking her head out the window which was good as we didn't have to deal with her drool. However, when we encountered some traffic on the way, a f***ing son of a b***h slapped Porkchop. Porkchop gave a little yelp and refused to look out the window the rest of the way. We dealt with her drool by holding a towel under her mouth.

When we got to Rey's house, Porkchop was still a bit dazed so I walked her around the block. Porkchop had lots of fun sniffing the new environment. When we finally got to Rey's house, she was already her usual cuddly self. After a while, she stopped drooling and showed her "talent" of obeying basic commands. (She responds to "Come", "Sit", "Down" and "Crawl.") I was so proud of her!!!

Of course, she drooled again on the way home, but I still gave her a piece of treat as soon as we arrived in our house.